This is so not how this works. Switch fans need to get it through their heads that the system will not be seeing many Xbone/PS4 ports of games that are built for hardware of that power level. At best the Switch would get "adaptations" of popular games if it became super successful to the point the third parties couldn't ignore it, like the Wii did. The Wii didn't just get those alternate versions of COD and such because of the motion controls, it got them because it was so much weaker than the 360 and PS3. Same thing here, except currently the third parties have no incentive to do that yet.
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Can the Switch buck the trend and be a successful environment for Western 3rd parties
- Thread starter legend166
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This is so not how this works. Switch fans need to get it through their heads that the system will not be seeing many Xbone/PS4 ports of games that are built for hardware of that power level. At best the Switch would get "adaptations" of popular games if it became super successful to the point the third parties couldn't ignore it, like the Wii did. The Wii didn't just get those alternate versions of COD and such because of the motion controls, it got them because it was so much weaker than the 360 and PS3. Same thing here, except currently the third parties have no incentive to do that yet.
Uh, weren't the Wii CoD games basically super scaled down versions of the HD games? I own them and the Wii versions are basically the same minus a lot of the effects.
Still, the gap between the NS and the PS4 is nowhere near the gap between the 360 and Wii. Which means those games should be able run on the system with some tweeking. If they can put the latest Tomb Raider on the Xbox 360, then they can surely put those games on the NS considering it's more powerful than that system.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Umm do you own a PC and have gamed on it by any chance? In many mainstream AAA game the difference between computer able to play it on low and ultra for example are quite vast. The Switch is well within the ballpark of for example scaled down XB1 port I mean they already exist with fairly demanding games. The question is if developers deem it worthwhile effort.
ShadowFox08
Member
I think the Switch versions of cod can easily sell over a million this fall if the Switch maintains the sane momentum then as it does now.
iRAWRasaurus
Banned
Downgraded graphics? No thank you.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
But you get to play during university lectures/class, on the bus, on the train and on roof tops! As well as local co-op.
Flying Toaster
Member
It will be a Nintendo gaming machine with huge indie support. High budget games will still focus on more powerful hardware. After seeing the specs of the Switch and also it's hybrid nature I do not really see studios making massive changes to hardware intensive games just to be put on the Switch.
I am good with this I don't subscribe to a single console or platform mentality.
I am good with this I don't subscribe to a single console or platform mentality.
We have no idea what a game like that would even look like on the system since we don't have any examples.
Still if the game has gyro aiming, then that could be a major selling point for that version. At least it would be for me.
TwilightPrincess
Member
Wii got CoD Ports and Switch is much nearer to PS4Bone than Wii was to PS360.
Looks like the same game with less graphics to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QcwcXZTFGE
Parapraxis
Member
Woah, again this claim that porting to Switch is super easy with no evidence aside from Skyrim (an older title) to support it.
Is there ANY credible source saying porting is easy with actual proof?
I am very skeptical of this claim given the sheer lack of ports coming to the system.
Interfectum
Member
Stop with these facts it gets in the way of his narrative.
Flying Toaster
Member
Wow... that is uh... that is bad. But yes generally speaking it is the same game I guess on point with that but I would hate to play that.
Skittzo0413
Member
You're right that we probably won't be seeing many ports but again that doesn't have much to do with the power gap. Your point about the Wii sorta proves that, as others have said, since it got the same CoD games with toned down graphics, and the power gap between the Wii and 360/PS3 is at least an order of magnitude higher than the gap between the Switch and PS4/XB1.
PC versions of these games should be proof enough that it could run on the Switch with a bit of effort put into optimization. Hell, the GPD Win can run some current gen games (like Overwatch) with far less GPU grunt than the Switch, and far more OS overhead taking away CPU power.
Power is simply not as important of a deterrent to AAA ports as (I believe) storage and online issues are.
Snake Pass was ported to the Switch in a week and released just a couple months later:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1342575&
Ease of development or porting has a lot to do with how big or complex a game is, so it likely won't be this easy for every game. But this isn't the type of thing you saw with Wii U or Wii ports. We've also heard from insiders that the NVN API is extremely easy to work with, and far easier to work with than the Wii U's APIs.
The Wii games were fun and there were a lot of people still playing them a couple of years ago. IR aiming is just so badass. They weren't lookers, for sure, but the gameplay was all there (as was the story). Played great and was fast and fun.
That being said, I had WAY more fun playing Force Unleashed on Wii than I did PS3, and the graphics jump/fall was even more of a stretch than this.
For me it's not just about how it looks, but how you play. As someone else said, the Switch isn't nearly as far off from a PS4 than the Wii was to the PS3. Portable COD would be fucking awesome.
ShadowFox08
Member
You're not making any sense whatsoever. You said we shouldn't expect AAA 3rd party ports because of power disparity, and then you said the reason why we got ports of cod Wii games was because the hardware was much weaker? Wtf You're contradicting yourself.
First of all, even though the Wii version is well over 10x weaker than 360, they were pretty great ports for the hardware limitations. Treyarch did an amazing job porting all those Wii and Wii u cod games. Besides obvious graphical differences(and cut to 30fps) Gameplay was identical with to a T,minus a few stripped content like DLC and things that weren't possible due to hardware limitations like kill cams and some kill streaks.
The main reason why we got Wii ports was because third party devs saw the Wii sell like hotcakes(motion sensing was a big thing back then also, and we got games like metroid prime 3 and other fpsers), and they did actually make profit for them. This is why support of cod games stopped after ghosts on Wii U, because they weren't making profit.
The switch is only roughly 3x weaker than the PS4 after you count newer hardware efficiency and fp16 in some situations. The bandwidth is its weakest point, but they can work around it for a but with tile based rendering. Bot to mention, its the easiest. We've already seen 3rd party ports on switch and they actually perform quite well to ps4/xbone versions. Nintendo port console to port to. But still, despite how much weaker Wii was over 360, it goes to show you that ports are indeed possible, and if devs say power is an issue as why they aren't porting the game, its mostly BS and really just about making profit.
The switch FOR SURE can get any ps4/xbone game with good performance and nearly identical fidelity, at the sacrifice of resolution(and/or framerste) and some graphical effects. Going from 720p to 1080p already takes 2.25x the GPU processing power, so expect a lot of 720p ports(with dynamic resolution) on docked mode, or 1080p with lower graphical fidelity vs ps4 base versions.
Flying Toaster
Member
These are great points there are plenty of games I absolutely love that are trash graphics. I guess I am curious as to when EA or Activision deem it viable to bring games like this over. I would imagine the Switch would need to sell more than the Wii U (I know it will).
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Another day another big third party game announced that isn't coming to Switch. I've made my peace with this at this point. The Switch will just have to make do being an indie + Nintendo machine. Indies made Vita a god tier handheld. With any luck they'll do the same for Switch. But the big third parties most certainly are not coming. They're not evwn giving it the traditional early trial run this time.
The better comparisons is Black Ops 1 and Modern Warfare 3. MWR is rough looking by comparison. The games do not look the same visually compared to the PS3/360 versions but the gameplay is the same.
MW3 (single player)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2KcH-fFw4
MW3 (Wave mode. Forget the name) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgSHTCdeDY
Now this is the difference between a SD system and a HD system. Even if graphics were toned down (a little or significantly) a Switch version will not have this drastic of a difference in how it looks. It will still look nice. Period. There is no way in hell it wouldn't. The idea that a version would look bad makes no damn sense. What would be impacted would be draw distance, effects, npcs on screens (maybe depending on the game), etc. It would not look bad.
sugarhigh4242
Banned
Notice none of these people are able to explain why major publishers stopped making PS3/360 games.
There's over 150M last-gen consoles out there, so why doesn't Bethesda make Prey with less graphics or Mass Effect Andromeda with less graphics? There was a period of cross-gen ports like Dragon Age Inquisition and MGS:V. Why did they stop?
Interfectum
Member
Once the platform holder drops a past platform it's best for a third party to move resources forward. Prey on 360/Xbone/PS3/PS4 with DLC hooks, pre-order bonuses and whatever else they have planned would be a massive headache especially if 360/PS3 start getting outdated/slower in terms of modern post game release needs (micro transactions, dlc, patches, whatever).
Not even mentioning the fact that the 360/PS3 versions of Prey would have very limited, if any, retail shelf space as retailers continue to push last gen consoles off the floor.
AA developers/projects are likely going to be the highest - so far as commercial presence - the Switch will likely get so far as support goes. Outside of the odd "complete/definitive" edition of maybe one or two AAA releases.
It'll likely be a different story entirely - for better or worse - in Japan.
It'll likely be a different story entirely - for better or worse - in Japan.
Uh, they stopped because the market died. Why do think we had a solid 2-3 years of crossgen games this generation and no others?
sugarhigh4242
Banned
Because continuing to support the previous consoles held back innovation on the current consoles. Look at Destiny, at some point they had to cut the cord.
Sorry for quasi-related derail:
Hey, Switcheroos, what digital games are must-haves? I have Zelda and MK8 and Lego, but I would like a bite sized chunk of (maybe even Neo Geo) arcade stuff. What's the top 5 I should get?
Also is the JackBox thing fun? Looks like a rad thing for grow up parties when they turn lame.
Hey, Switcheroos, what digital games are must-haves? I have Zelda and MK8 and Lego, but I would like a bite sized chunk of (maybe even Neo Geo) arcade stuff. What's the top 5 I should get?
Also is the JackBox thing fun? Looks like a rad thing for grow up parties when they turn lame.
Crayon
Member
Do you like snakes? Ever want to be a snake?
Sort of...
Skittzo0413
Member
I personally have Shovel Knight, Binding of Isaac, Mr. Shifty, Snipperclips, and Wonder Boy. Out of those, I'd recommend Snipperclips, Shovel Knight and Binding of Isaac over the rest. Both of the latter two have new exclusive content on the Switch.
Crayon
Member
Then you're going to sort of like snake pass. You will come away with a greater understanding of the plight of the snake. They can't jump, you know.
LightningXCE
Member
Absolutely get Snake Pass if you like older style puzzle/platformers too, it's really fun.
Fast RMX is great if you're looking for a high-speed racer, Bomberman and snipperclips are fun at parties.
You mentioned Jackbox - it's fantastic for 'adult' parties where alcohol is involved (or not even!) since you use your internet devices to play rather than the console, you can basically rope everyone in to play together.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Ok, now have the PS3 version at the proper resolution....
Of course they look the same when they are running at 200p.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
SW can run UE4. I see so many use this as some instant reasoning, failing to realise the man hours and engineering needed to sufficiently downscale and optimise, especially with high end PS4 games. Its a helpful factor but the task is still a notable one.
CamHostage
Member
Given nearly every AAA (and AA, and A, and B, and even some C-level games) not named Sonic that has been announced since the Nintendo Switch released has not announced Switch inclusion in the platform slate, so far we have seen, and it's not great. Even the easy gimmies and the titles that would do well with the market (how was Disney Afternoon Collection even a question?) have not landed on the system. I don't get it, but that's what we've seen so far.
That lack of big-name support may be a factor of timing and its infrastructure getting up to speed (although do note that, at least on the retail side, high production costs are supposedly a hurdle for publishers.) Hopefully E3 will change the story dramatically and we'll see better parity where it makes sense. (Japanese game development studios seem interested at the very least, so get some Monster Hunter on Switch and maybe we'll finally see Vita owners having an option to get their needs for something new and wide-ranging in support met...) So far, it feels to me like Wii U and Wii all over again, only this time with Nintendo in a position to put up a good fight and with smart indies backing them up.
Power will always matter. Seriously, look at the writing on the wall: if power didn't matter, we wouldn't even need this thread. The Switch would automatically get all the downports because it's so "easy."
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